This is the second half of a project initiated between Dave Stover, longtime NOLA-rock scenester and all-purpose songwriter, and Training Wheels singer “Bicycle” Jones, who again adds some Northshore backwoods humanity to what might have been, with some of Dave’s old bands, just a lot of drunken (if witty) self-flagellation. Stover’s songwriting, which has never been tighter, again gets a more profound reading via Jones’ mix of new country and classic Americana aesthetics. Fortunately, most of the musicians are back as well, except that Stover’s long-time confrere Dave Easley now plays a ten-string Weissenborn (which is supposedly an even more expressive instrument than his dobro, and based on his performance here, that may very well be true).

The bitter sadness of failed romance is all over these songs, as usual. The otherwise upbeat bluegrass of “Mommas Know” cloaks the desperation of a last-ditch drive to save a dead dream, “It Ain’t You” perfectly balances the two halves of a love-hate relationship, and “Thank You Elizabeth” is anything but a testimonial—and Jones is still never more incisive, or Stover more biting, then when they’re working together. Hopefully they can crowdsource a full album soon. No local act better epitomizes whistling past the romantic graveyard.